The present invention relates to an electronic component mounting apparatus which mounts an electronic component on a printed circuit board.
A conventional general electronic component mounting apparatus (to be simply referred to as a mounting apparatus hereinafter) includes a conveyance device which horizontally feeds a printed circuit board. Also, in the conventional electronic component mounting apparatus, a printed circuit board loading unit, a substrate holding unit on which a printed circuit board is held at the time of mounting, and a printed circuit board unloading unit are aligned in a line in the conveyance direction of the conveyance device.
An electronic component mounting apparatus of this type adopts a form shown in, for example, Japanese Patent No. 4278903 (to be simply referred to as literature 1 hereinafter) or Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-163498 (to be simply referred to as literature 2 hereinafter) to obtain a high productivity.
Literature 1 discloses a mounting system formed by aligning a plurality of mounting apparatuses in a line in the conveyance direction.
The mounting apparatus disclosed in literature 1 includes two conveyance devices. These conveyance devices serve to divert a mounting apparatus, that has generated a delay in mounting, of a plurality of mounting apparatuses to feed a printed circuit board to the downstream mounting apparatus. These conveyance devices are aligned in one horizontal direction perpendicular to the conveyance direction. Also, distribution conveyors are connected to the upstream and downstream ends of these conveyance devices to allow selection of a conveyance device to which a printed circuit board is conveyed.
Literature 2 discloses a mounting system formed by aligning a plurality of mounting apparatuses in a line in a horizontal direction perpendicular to the conveyance direction. The conveyance devices for each mounting apparatus disclosed in literature 2 are connected to each other by a loading conveyor and an unloading conveyor. The unloading conveyor can feed printed circuit boards to the upstream ends of all conveyance devices. The unloading conveyor can receive printed circuit boards from the downstream ends of all conveyance devices.
In a conventional general mounting apparatus in which a printed circuit board loading unit, substrate holding unit, and printed circuit board unloading unit are aligned in a line in the conveyance direction of a printed circuit board conveyance device, there is a limit in shortening its dimension in the conveyance direction.
In the mounting apparatus described in literature 1, distribution conveyors must be provided between the plurality of mounting apparatuses, thus increasing its dimension in the conveyance direction.
In the mounting apparatus described in literature 2, a loading conveyor and an unloading conveyor must be provided on the upstream and downstream sides, respectively, thus increasing its size in the conveyance direction.